Nikki's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 05 Jul 2024 02:19:23 -0700 60 Nikki's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions]]> 32486539 A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such problems for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us.

In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian (who holds degrees in computer science, philosophy, and poetry, and works at the intersection of all three) and Tom Griffiths (a UC Berkeley professor of cognitive science and psychology) show how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.]]> 12 Brian Christian Nikki 4 4.09 2016 Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
author: Brian Christian
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/19
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves:
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Nikki 0 to-read 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)]]> 60879779
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let's get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me]]> 371 Benjamin Stevenson 0063279029 Nikki 0 to-read 3.75 2022 Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Business Made Simple: 60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More]]> 58407146 It's hard to be successful without a clear understanding of how business works. These 60 daily readings from New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller focus on the tangible skills it takes to offer extreme value to your organization while building your company, your career, and your legacy.Learn what the most successful business leaders have known for years in only 60 days through the simple but effective secrets shared in these pages.Business is more than just a good idea made profitable, it's a system of unspoken rules, rarely taught by the university system. If you are attempting to profitably grow your business or career, you need elite business knowledge--knowledge that creates tangible value. Unfortunately, few of us have the time, access, or money to attend a Top 20 business school.However, there is another way to achieve this insider skill development, which can both drastically improve your career earnings and the satisfaction of achieving your goals.

Donald Miller, Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author of Building a StoryBrand and numerous other bestsellers, experienced this frustration firsthand as he built his own multimillion-dollar business. He he wrote Business Made Simple to teach businesspeople how to be successful in today's constantly evolving business world.

These short, daily entries and accompanying videos will add enormous value to your own business or the organization you work for. In this sixty-day guide, readers will be introduced to the nine areas where truly successful leaders and their businesses excel:


Character
Leadership
Personal Productivity
Messaging
Marketing
Business Strategy
Execution
Sales
Management
Business Coaching
Business Made Simple is the easiest and most affordable way for anyone who feels lost or overwhelmed by the modern business climate to learn what they need to know to bring themselves and their businesses to the next level.]]> Donald Miller Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 3.71 Business Made Simple: 60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management, Personal Productivity and More
author: Donald Miller
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Girls Must Die Exhausted]]> 56645992 The first novel in a captivating three-book series about modern womanhood, in which a young Black woman must rely on courage, laughter, and love—and the support of her two longtime friends—to overcome an unexpected setback that threatens the most precious thing she’s ever wanted.

Tabitha Walker is a black woman with a plan to “have it all.”� At 33 years old, the checklist for the life of her dreams is well underway. Education? Check. Good job? Check. Down payment for a nice house? Check. Dating marriage material? Check, check, and check. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, a "paper-perfect" boyfriend, and even a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, everything seems to be falling into place.

Then Tabby receives an unexpected diagnosis that brings her picture-perfect life crashing down, jeopardizing the keystone she took for granted: having children. With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist, suddenly she is faced with an impossible choice between her career, her dream home, and a family of her own.

With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the mom jeans-wearing former "Sexy Lexi," and the generational wisdom of her grandmother and the nonagenarian firebrand Ms. Gretchen, Tabby explores the reaches of modern medicine and tests the limits of her relationships, hoping to salvage the future she always dreamed of. But the fight is all consuming, demanding a steep price that forces an honest reckoning for nearly everyone in her life. As Tabby soon learns, her grandmother's age-old adage just might still be true: Black girls must die exhausted.]]> 350 Jayne Allen 0063137909 Nikki 0 currently-reading 3.85 2018 Black Girls Must Die Exhausted
author: Jayne Allen
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data]]> 55561865 The definitive guide to statistical thinking
Statistics are everywhere, as integral to science as they are to business, and in the popular media hundreds of times a day. In this age of big data, a basic grasp of statistical literacy is more important than ever if we want to separate the fact from the fiction, the ostentatious embellishments from the raw evidence -- and even more so if we hope to participate in the future, rather than being simple bystanders.
In The Art of Statistics, world-renowned statistician David Spiegelhalter shows readers how to derive knowledge from raw data by focusing on the concepts and connections behind the math. Drawing on real world examples to introduce complex issues, he shows us how statistics can help us determine the luckiest passenger on the Titanic, whether a notorious serial killer could have been caught earlier, and if screening for ovarian cancer is beneficial. The Art of Statistics not only shows us how mathematicians have used statistical science to solve these problems -- it teaches us how we too can think like statisticians. We learn how to clarify our questions, assumptions, and expectations when approaching a problem, and -- perhaps even more importantly -- we learn how to responsibly interpret the answers we receive.
Combining the incomparable insight of an expert with the playful enthusiasm of an aficionado, The Art of Statistics is the definitive guide to stats that every modern person needs.]]> 9 David Spiegelhalter Nikki 0 abandoned, to-read 4.15 2019 The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data
author: David Spiegelhalter
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming]]> 23241059
In the first half of the book, you'll learn about basic programming concepts, such as lists, dictionaries, classes, and loops, and practice writing clean and readable code with exercises for each topic. You'll also learn how to make your programs interactive and how to test your code safely before adding it to a project. In the second half of the book, you'll put your new knowledge into practice with three substantial projects: a Space Invaders-inspired arcade game, data visualizations with Python's super-handy libraries, and a simple web app you can deploy online.

As you work through Python Crash Course , you'll learn how to:



If you've been thinking seriously about digging into programming, Python Crash Course will get you up to speed and have you writing real programs fast. Why wait any longer? Start your engines and code!]]> 560 Eric Matthes 1593276036 Nikki 0 currently-reading 4.36 2015 Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming
author: Eric Matthes
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection]]> 168685046
In this groundbreaking book, Charles Duhigg unravels the secrets of the supercommunicators to reveal the art - and the science - of successful communication. He unpicks the different types of everyday conversation and pinpoints why some go smoothly while others swiftly fall apart. He reveals the conversational questions and gambits that bring people together. And he shows how even the most tricky of encounters can be turned around. In the process, he shows why a CIA operative was able to win over a reluctant spy, how a member of a jury got his fellow jurors to view an open-and-shut case differently, and what a doctor found they needed to do to engage with a vaccine sceptic.

Above all, he reveals the techniques we can all master to successfully connect with others, however tricky the circumstances. Packed with fascinating case studies and drawing on cutting-edge research, this book will change the way you think about what you say, and how you say it.]]> 8 Charles Duhigg 0593821408 Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 3.93 2024 Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Call Me Maybe (Love Lines, #1)]]> 55423823
True love is on the line in this charming, laugh-out-loud rom-com—created specifically for the audio format!

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth� when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Cal. He’s surprisingly helpful and really knows his stuff, even if he’s a little awkward�. in an adorable way.

And suddenly I’m flirting with him? And I think he’s flirting back.
And suddenly it’s been hours, and we’re still on the phone talking and ordering each other takeout while he trouble shoots my website.
And suddenly we’re exchanging numbers and sending texts and DMs every day, leaving voice mails (who even does that anymore?!).
And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s possible for two people fall in love at first talk.

Because I’m falling� hard.]]> 6 Cara Bastone Nikki 2 3.96 2020 Call Me Maybe (Love Lines, #1)
author: Cara Bastone
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The It Girl 59345249
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide� including a murder.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.

]]> 423 Ruth Ware 1982155264 Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 3.81 2022 The It Girl
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Exposed: The Ashley Madison Hack]]> 209938790
©2024 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC]]> 3 Sophie Elmhirst Nikki 3 3.37 Exposed: The Ashley Madison Hack
author: Sophie Elmhirst
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.37
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/09
date added: 2024/04/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Lonely Harts Radio 184592563
The thing is, you either click with a co-host, or you don’t. It’s a bit like falling in love. There’s co-host chemistry, or there isn’t.

With the countdown to a new millennium, it feels like the world as they know it is about to end.

Radio is becoming commercialized and superficial. Lower Manhattan is gentrifying. The Lonely Harts Club feels like the last chance to hold on to something real. As confessions pour out over the late-night airwaves and their show gathers an impressive following of happily-matched couples, can The Lonely Harts Club make one last true match?]]> 6 Adeline Knight Nikki 4 3.67 Lonely Harts Radio
author: Adeline Knight
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/09
date added: 2024/04/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Burnout 180483413
Sparks fly in this delightful novel about two burned out professionals who meet at a ramshackle resort on the British seaside—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Party Crasher.

She can do anything . . . just not everything.

Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent� (but obviously not at all urgent) email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall.

Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).

When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?]]> Sophie Kinsella Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 3.53 2023 The Burnout
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Believe Everything You Think]]> 60726415
In this book, you'll discover the root cause of all psychological and emotional suffering and how to achieve freedom of mind to effortlessly create the life you've always wanted to live.

Although pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

This book offers a completely new paradigm and understanding of where our human experience comes from, allowing us to end our own suffering and create how we want to feel at any moment.

No matter what has happened to you, where you are from, or what you have done, you can still find total peace, unconditional love, complete fulfillment, and an abundance of joy in your life.

No person is an exception to this. Darkness only exists because of the light, which means even in our darkest hour, light must exist.

Within the pages of this book, contains timeless wisdom to empower you with the understanding of our mind’s infinite potential to create any experience of life that we want no matter the external circumstances.

Don’t Believe Everything You Think is not about rewiring your brain, rewriting your past, positive thinking or anything of the sort.

We cannot solve our problems with the same level of consciousness that created them. Tactics are temporary. An expansion of consciousness is permanent.

This book was written to help you go beyond your thinking and discover the truth of what you already intuitively know deep inside your soul.]]> 99 Joseph Nguyen Nikki 3 3.79 2022 Don't Believe Everything You Think
author: Joseph Nguyen
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/02
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same]]> 35132095 176 John Torinus Jr. Nikki 3 4.43 2010 The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same
author: John Torinus Jr.
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/29
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis]]> 10664419 Discover this revolutionary method that Dr. Temple Grandin called "really helpful for teaching reading to children who are mathematical pattern thinkers..."

Predominant reading methods require students to break the complex code of English without help. This has resulted in low literacy rates and explains why many highly educated professionals cannot spell. By revealing the logical patterns underlying 98% of English words, Uncovering the Logic of English eliminates the need to guess and provides a logical solution to English spelling.

Simple answers are given for questions such
As the rules unfold it becomes apparent how this knowledge is vital to reversing the educational crisis that is plaguing America. This slim volume is easy to read and accessible to parents and classroom teachers. A thorough appendix summarizes the most important concepts for quick reference.


ForeWord Book of the Year Finalist 2012
Midwest Book Awards Finalist 2012
Independent Publishers Awards 2011
Indie Excellence Award 2011]]> 199 Denise Eide 1936706008 Nikki 5 abandoned 4.51 2011 Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Solution to America's Literacy Crisis
author: Denise Eide
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves: abandoned
review:

]]> Must Love Flowers 131841535 Two women at different stages of life share a heartwarming journey to find themselves again after hardship in this uplifting novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Joan Sample is not living the life she thought she would. Now a widow and an empty nester, Joan is content being something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to get back out into the world. With her encouragement, Joan makes big strides, taking care of her overgrown lawn, making new friends through a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is finally starting to feel like herself again.

Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to rushed and annoyed customers before taking afternoon classes to become a nurse practitioner. She's been living with her alcoholic father, avoiding his temper and struggling to pay the bills. But she begins to envision a new future when she finds a room for rent at a reasonable price, with a landlady who seems nice enough. Only after she moves in does she realize that her least favorite customer happens to be Joan's son--and she's just taken his childhood room.

Despite a rocky start, Maggie begins to see a different side to the grumpy customer who was once her nemesis. At the same time, Joan grows closer with the landscaper who's revitalizing her lawn. And as they confront the trials of life, new love, and family, the two women offer each other the support they had been missing. But will the risks they take be worth it in the end?]]> Debbie Macomber 0593740092 Nikki 2 3.78 2023 Must Love Flowers
author: Debbie Macomber
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Violin Conspiracy 58386733 A mystery about a Black classical musician whose family heirloom violin is stolen on the eve of the most prestigious classical music competition in the world.

Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather's fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise. Then with the international Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—fast approaching, his prized family heirloom is stolen. Ray is determined to get it back. But now his family and the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray's great-grandfather are each claiming that the violin belongs to them. With the odds stacked against him and the pressure mounting, will Ray ever see his beloved violin again?]]> 345 Brendan Slocumb 0593315413 Nikki 0 to-read 4.06 2022 The Violin Conspiracy
author: Brendan Slocumb
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Economics Book 54033048
An easy-to-follow style, succinct quotations, ad thoroughly accessible text throw light on the applications of economics, making them relatable through everyday examples and concerns.

'THE ECONOMICS BOOK' takes a frequently confusing subject and makes sense of it, clearly highlighting both historically important and emerging ideas in this critical field of science.




RUNNING TIME � 15hrs. and 43mins.

©2014 D.K. (P)2019 Random House Audio]]> Niall Kishtainy Nikki 0 abandoned, to-read 4.00 2012 The Economics Book
author: Niall Kishtainy
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/10
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> Swing Trading for Dummies 45434614 Increase profit and limit risk with swing trading basics

Swing trading is all about riding the momentum of brief price changes in trending stocks. Although it can be risky, swing trading is popular for a reason, and Swing Trading For Dummies, 2nd Edition, will show you how to manage the risk and navigate the latest markets to succeed at this lucrative trading strategy.

In this updated edition, you'll find expert guidance on new accounting rules, the 2018 tax law, trading in international markets, algorithmic trading, and more. Plus, learn about the role social media now plays in moving asset prices, and how you can tap into online trends to ride price swings.

Understand money management, journal keeping, and strategy planning Focus on fundamental analysis to increase your chance of success Evaluate companies to screen for under- or overvalued stocks Develop and implement your trading plan and calculate performance Starting from the basic differences between swing trading and other trading styles and progressing through plain-English explanations of more advanced topics like charts and reporting standards, Swing Trading For Dummies will help you maintain and grow your assets with swing trading in any market!]]> 349 Omar Bassal 1119565111 Nikki 4 abandoned 4.25 Swing Trading for Dummies
author: Omar Bassal
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/23
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves: abandoned
review:

]]> 28 Summers 52588078
When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.

There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?

Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere -- through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise -- until Mallory learns she's dying.

Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love.]]> 432 Elin Hilderbrand 0316420042 Nikki 0 abandoned, to-read 4.12 2020 28 Summers
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> The Perfect Find 28512489
Jenna Jones, former It-girl fashion editor, is broke and desperate for a second chance. When she’s dumped by her longtime fiancé and fired from Darling magazine, she begs for a job at StyleZine.com from her old arch nemesis, Darcy Vale. But Jenna soon realizes she’s in over her head. She’s working with digital-savvy millennials half her age, has never even “Twittered,� and pretends to still be a Fashion Somebody while living a style lie (she sold her designer wardrobe to afford her sketched-out studio, and now quietly wears Walmart’s finest). Worse? The twenty-two-year-old videographer assigned to shoot her web series is driving her crazy. Wildly sexy with a smile Jenna feels in her thighs, Eric Combs is way off-limits � but almost too delicious to resist.

Written by the bestselling author of The Accidental Diva, The Perfect Find is a scandalously sexy, laugh-out-loud saga of star-crossed love and starting over.]]> 363 Tia Williams Nikki 0 abandoned, to-read 3.96 2016 The Perfect Find
author: Tia Williams
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The English Vocabulary Builder Book: the Easy Guide to Becoming More Articulate]]> 55248891
The aim of this book is to not only enrich your vocabulary and way of speaking but to also bring other people’s words to life. The book is appropriate for first and non-native English speakers.]]> 99 Lingo Valley Nikki 4 4.75 The English Vocabulary Builder Book: the Easy Guide to Becoming More Articulate
author: Lingo Valley
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/24
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Nikki 2 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/10/13
date added: 2023/10/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking]]> 60719873 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Audie Award Finalist
An Amazon best business and leadership book of 2023

Win Every Argument shows how anyone can communicate with confidence, rise above the tit for tats on social media, and triumph in a successful and productive debate in the real world.

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan isn’t one to avoid arguments. He relishes them as the lifeblood of democracy and the only surefire way to establish the truth. Arguments help us solve problems, uncover new ideas we might not have considered, and nudge our disagreements toward mutual understanding. A good argument, made in good faith, has intrinsic value—and can also simply be fun.

Arguments are everywhere—and especially given the fierce debates we’re all embroiled in today, everyone wants to win. In this riveting guide to the art of argument and rhetoric, Hasan shows you how. As a journalist, anchor, and interviewer who has clashed with politicians, generals, spy chiefs, and celebrities from across the world, Hasan reveals his tricks of the trade for the first time.

Whether you are making a presentation at work or debating current political issues with a friend, Mehdi Hasan will teach you how to sharpen your speaking skills to make the winning case.]]> 325 Mehdi Hasan 1250853486 Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 4.27 2023 Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking
author: Mehdi Hasan
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)]]> 62873996
Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258776 Nikki 3 3.95 2023 The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/21
date added: 2023/09/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Flowers for Algernon 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence � a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X Nikki 0 4.19 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Educated 45026724 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780525528074 can be found here.

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.]]> 13 Tara Westover Nikki 2 4.21 2018 Educated
author: Tara Westover
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/05
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Before I Let Go (Skyland, #1) 60568471
It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

Award-winning and bestselling "powerhouse" author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime (USA Today).]]> 391 Kennedy Ryan 1538706792 Nikki 3 4.32 2022 Before I Let Go (Skyland, #1)
author: Kennedy Ryan
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/23
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Hair Love 51261009 When mommy is away, it’s up to daddy to do his daughter’s hair in this ode to self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters from former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestseller Vashti Harrison.

Zuri’s hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it’s beautiful. When mommy does Zuri’s hair, she feels like a superhero. But when mommy is away, it’s up to daddy to step in! And even though daddy has a lot to learn, he LOVES his Zuri. And he’ll do anything to make her—and her hair—happy.

Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair—and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.]]> Matthew A. Cherry 1690582898 Nikki 0 4.66 2019 Hair Love
author: Matthew A. Cherry
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/21
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller Nikki 1 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Wash Day Diaries 60644542 From writer Jamila Rowser and artist Robyn Smith comes a captivating graphic novel love letter to the beauty and endurance of Black women, their friendships, and their hair.

Wash Day Diaries tells the story of four best friends—Kim, Tanisha, Davene, and Cookie—through five connected short story comics that follow these young women through the ups and downs of their daily lives in the Bronx.

The book takes its title from the wash day experience shared by Black women everywhere of setting aside all plans and responsibilities for a full day of washing, conditioning, and nourishing their hair. Each short story uses hair routines as a window into these four characters' everyday lives and how they care for each other.

Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith originally kickstarted their critically acclaimed, award-winning slice of life mini comic, Wash Day, inspired by Rowser's own wash day ritual and their shared desire to see more comics featuring the daily lived experiences of young Black women. Wash Day Diaries includes an updated, full color version of this original comic—which follows Kim, a 26-year-old woman living in the Bronx—as the book's first chapter and expands into a graphic novel with short stories about these vibrant and relatable new characters.

In expanding the story of Kim and her friends, the authors pay tribute to Black sisterhood through portraits of shared, yet deeply personal experiences of Black hair care. From self-care to spilling the tea at an hours-long salon appointment to healing family rifts, the stories are brought to life through beautifully drawn characters and different color palettes reflecting the mood in each story.

At times touching, quiet, triumphant, and laugh out loud funny, the stories of Wash Day Diaries pay a loving tribute to Black joy and the resilience of Black women.]]> 184 Jamila Rowser 1797205846 Nikki 4 4.40 2022 Wash Day Diaries
author: Jamila Rowser
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/20
date added: 2023/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Bookstore Sisters 63096573
From New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman comes a heartfelt short story about family, independence, and finding your place in the world.

Isabel Gibson has all but perfected the art of forgetting. She’s a New Yorker now, with nothing left to tie her to Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Her parents are gone, the family bookstore is all but bankrupt, and her sister, Sophie, will probably never speak to her again.

But when a mysterious letter arrives in her mailbox, Isabel feels herself drawn to the past. After years of fighting for her independence, she dreads the thought of going back to the island. What she finds there may forever alter her path—and change everything she thought she knew about her family, her home, and herself.]]> 1 Alice Hoffman Nikki 4 3.49 2022 The Bookstore Sisters
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/17
date added: 2023/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Good Morning, Monster 55277290 In the tradition of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and shows such as In Treatment, a riveting look behind the closed door of the therapist's office.

In this fascinating narrative, therapist Catherine Gildiner’s presents five of what she calls her most heroic and memorable patients. Among them: a successful, first generation Chinese immigrant musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her at age nine with her younger siblings in an isolated cottage in the depth of winter; and a glamorous workaholic whose narcissistic, negligent mother greeted her each morning of her childhood with "Good morning, Monster."

Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years. They seek Gildiner's help to overcome an immediate challenge in their lives, but discover that the source of their suffering has been long buried.

As in such recent classics as The Glass Castle and Educated, each patient embodies self-reflection, stoicism, perseverance, and forgiveness as they work unflinchingly to face the truth. Gildiner's account of her journeys with them is moving, insightful, and sometimes very funny. Good Morning Monster offers an almost novelistic, behind-the-scenes look into the therapist's office, illustrating how the process can heal even the most unimaginable wounds.]]> 14 Catherine Gildiner 1250772613 Nikki 5 4.30 2020 Good Morning, Monster
author: Catherine Gildiner
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/16
date added: 2023/07/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Woman He Loved Before 9981619 465 Dorothy Koomson 0751543500 Nikki 3 4.12 2011 The Woman He Loved Before
author: Dorothy Koomson
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/11
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Visit (Black Stars, #1) 59129060
One night in Lagos, two former friends reunite. Obinna is a dutiful and unsophisticated stay-at-home husband and father married to a powerful businesswoman. Eze is single, a cautious rebel from his university days whose arrival soon upsets the balance in Obinna’s life. In a world where men are constantly under surveillance and subject to the whims of powerful women, more than Obinna’s ordered and accustomed routine might be on the line.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Visit is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.]]> Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Nikki 3 3.67 2021 The Visit (Black Stars, #1)
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/05
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Living from a Place of Surrender: The Untethered Soul in Action]]> 50904284 An eight-part program for letting go of stress and fear and aligning with the flow of life in the moment

In his decades of experience as a spiritual teacher, Michael A. Singer has realized an important truth: “In trying to achieve happiness by ‘getting what you want,� you’re actually limiting your happiness. You end up struggling with life instead of experiencing it. True happiness comes only when your inner energy is free to flow.� Living from a Place of Surrender was created to help you welcome that unhampered flow in your own life.

In this eight-session program adapted from Singer’s online course of the same name, you’ll learn about your relationship both to the world unfolding around you and to the thoughts and emotions arising within you. You will come into touch with the real “you”—the indwelling consciousness that is witnessing it all. And you’ll see firsthand why the most effective personal growth technique is to use life to remove your inner blockages, not compensate for them.]]> 0 Michael A. Singer 1683645855 Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 4.49 2019 Living from a Place of Surrender: The Untethered Soul in Action
author: Michael A. Singer
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/05
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> Someone Else's Shoes 62971668 A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars.

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp � in the bleakest point of her life � has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag--she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes� signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.]]> 438 Jojo Moyes 1984879294 Nikki 4 3.88 2023 Someone Else's Shoes
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/01
date added: 2023/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[REIT Investing for Beginners: How to Get Rich in Real Estate Without Owning A Single Physical Property + Beat Inflation with Consistent 9% Dividends (Stock Investing 101)]]> 63221362 Why should you settle for 0.05% interest in a savings account?
When inflation is over 8%!

With interest rates rising, your cash could now finally earn you some interest income.

Well� it could� but it may not be doing so.

You see, many financial institutions are not passing along higher interest to customers holding cash.

You should check to see how much your money earns.

Bank of America pays 0.05% on savings account.

Charles Scwab will pay you a whopping 0.4% for cash in your investment account.

Even the top rated money market account from Capital One will only pay you 3%.

So what to do instead?

This book will not only show you why REITs are the easiest way to leverage real estate investing.

You’ll also see how you can earn $1,000 or more per month in passive income with dividend yields of up to 9%.

It’s no wonder that billionaire investors like Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and George Soros have all owned REITs in their portfolios.

Here’s just a fraction of what you’ll learn How to get rich in real estate, without owning any properties � Page 15The “yield trap� how to avoid poor value REITs � Page 47Get in before December 30th to profit from this booming industrial REIT which pay 7.8% per year � Page 72An under the radar REIT which pays 6% per year while growing its share price � Page 102What percentage of your portfolio should be in REITs � Page 127The little known 1986 tax reform which makes these companies fantastic dividend opportunies � Page 130The only private REIT worth buying in 2023 � Page 114The best monthly paying dividend REIT. We narrowed it down from 56 and this little known San Diego corporation will send you dividends every single month � Page 55…and much, much more!

You’ll also get our 10 part video course Company Valuation 101 as a free bonus.

This is not a 600 page text book which you need an MBA to understand. Written in plain English and free from repetitive technical jargon.

Every single piece of financial terminology is clearly defined inside.

You’ll find easy-to-follow advice in how to develop your own process for analyzing companies. As well as concrete
examples of everything we teach.

For everyone who feels frustrated and crushed after watching so-called professional money managers lose half your money while charging fat fees. This book is a liberating experience which will inspire you to take personal responsibility for your financial future.

So even if you’re never read a single finance or investing book in your life, you will immediately understand how to get steady dividend income with REITs

To kickstart your REIT journey today, scroll up and click “add to cart�]]> 173 Freeman Publications Nikki 3 4.26 2022 REIT Investing for Beginners: How to Get Rich in Real Estate Without Owning A Single Physical Property + Beat Inflation with Consistent 9% Dividends (Stock Investing 101)
author: Freeman Publications
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/27
date added: 2023/06/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Seven Days in June 55648820
When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York's Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry - or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.

Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva's not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered...

With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781538719107.]]> 336 Tia Williams Nikki 3 3.98 2021 Seven Days in June
author: Tia Williams
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/25
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Homecoming 61683285
Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

Nora has always been a vibrant and strong presence: decisive, encouraging, young despite her years. When Jess visits her in the hospital, she is alarmed to find her grandmother frail and confused. It’s even more alarming to hear from Nora's housekeeper that Nora had been distracted in the weeks before her accident and had fallen on the steps to the attic—the one place Jess was forbidden from playing in when she was small.

At loose ends in Nora's house, Jess does some digging of her own. In Nora's bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime—a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find�

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth. Above all, it is a beguiling and immensely satisfying novel from one of the finest writers working today.]]> 547 Kate Morton 0063020890 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.00 2023 Homecoming
author: Kate Morton
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Swim Team 58842729
With Etta's training and a lot of hard work, Bree suddenly finds her swim-crazed community counting on her to turn the school's failing team around. But that's easier said than done, especially when their rival, the prestigious Holyoke Prep, has everything they need to leave the Mighty Manatees in their wake.

Can Bree defy the odds and guide her team to a state championship, or have the Manatees swum their last lap--for good?]]> 248 Johnnie Christmas 0063056763 Nikki 4 4.24 2022 Swim Team
author: Johnnie Christmas
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/21
date added: 2023/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America]]> 45420039
He demonstrates that such policies still influence tragedies in places like Ferguson and Baltimore. Scholars have separately described many of these policies, but until now, no author has brought them together to explode the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces. Like The New Jim Crow]]> 10 Richard Rothstein Nikki 4 4.46 2017 The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
author: Richard Rothstein
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/27
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> This Matter of Marriage 33774404 0 Debbie Macomber 1538409216 Nikki 3 3.22 1997 This Matter of Marriage
author: Debbie Macomber
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.22
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Open Water 53414230
At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.]]> 145 Caleb Azumah Nelson 0241448778 Nikki 0 to-read 4.03 2021 Open Water
author: Caleb Azumah Nelson
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 60457818 12 Shelby Van Pelt Nikki 3 4.34 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/18
date added: 2023/06/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Fahrenheit 451 13079982 Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.� But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 194 Ray Bradbury Nikki 0 abandoned, to-read 3.97 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/17
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep, Sex Drive and Vitality Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol]]> 15802675
Combining natural therapies with rigorous scientific testing and using an informative questionnaire to identify the common causes of hormonal imbalance, Dr. Gottfried provides an individualized plan in nonjudgmental and thoughtful language. Based on ten years� study of cutting-edge medical research as a specialist in functional and integrative therapies, Dr. Gottfried’s three-tiered treatment strategy includes: •Supplements and targeted lifestyle changes that address underlying deficiencies

•Herbal therapies that restore balance and optimize your body’s natural function

� Bioidentical hormones� most available without a prescription

The Hormone Cure is a groundbreaking book that demonstrates how balancing your hormones can cure underlying health issues and result in restored sleep, greater energy, improved mood, easy weight loss, increased productivity, and many more benefits. Dr. Sara Gottfried’s The Hormone Cure will transform your life.]]> 432 Sara Gottfried 1451666969 Nikki 0 to-read 3.97 2013 The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep, Sex Drive and Vitality Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol
author: Sara Gottfried
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Stop Time 45152372 "She smiled a soft, troubled smile and I felt the whole world slipping away, and I wanted to slip with it, to go wherever she was going... I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.]]> 339 Matt Haig 0525522891 Nikki 4 3.78 2018 How to Stop Time
author: Matt Haig
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/11
date added: 2023/06/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?]]> 60872124 Listening Length: 7 hours and 13 minutes

Give your mind the one thing it needs this winter with the book everyone has been talking about, from clinical psychologist and TikTok sensation Dr Julie Smith.

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, online sensation Dr Julie Smith shares all the skills you need to get through life's ups and downs.

Filled with secrets from a therapist's toolkit, this is a must-have handbook for optimising your mental health. Dr Julie's simple but expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient no matter what life throws your way.

Written in short, bite-sized entries, you can turn straight to the section you need depending on the challenge you're facing - and immediately find the appropriate tools to help with . . .

- Managing anxiety
- Dealing with criticism
- Battling low mood
- Building self-confidence
- Finding motivation
- Learning to forgive yourself

This book tackles the everyday issues that affect us all and offers easy, practical solutions that might just change your life.]]> 8 Julie Smith Nikki 0 to-read, abandoned 3.88 2022 Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
author: Julie Smith
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/09
shelves: to-read, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman]]> 9870452 I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.
The woman who brought us When Harry Met Sally . . . discusses everything–from how much she hates her purse to how much time she spends attempting to stop the clock: the hair dye, the treadmill, the lotions and creams that promise to slow the aging process but never do. Oh, and she can’t stand the way her neck looks. But her dermatologist tells her there’s no quick fix for that.
Ephron chronicles her life, but mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age.
Utterly courageous, wickedly funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is an audiobook of wisdom, advice, and laugh-out-loud moments, a scrumptious, irresistible treat.]]> 0 Nora Ephron 0739342932 Nikki 1 3.57 2006 I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
author: Nora Ephron
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 2023/06/02
date added: 2023/06/02
shelves:
review:
The first and last chapters were ok but everything in between was whiny, shallow or offensive.
]]> Meet Me in the Margins 59401885
When You’ve Got Mail meets The Proposal, Melissa Ferguson’s latest romantic comedy is one for the books.

Savannah Cade’s dreams are coming true. The Claire Donovan, editor-in-chief of the most successful romance imprint in the country, has requested to see the manuscript Savannah’s been secretly writing while working as editor herself - except at her publishing house, the philosophy is only highbrow works are worth printing and commercial fiction, particularly romance, should be reserved for the lowest level of Dante’s inferno. But when Savannah drops her manuscript during a staff meeting and nearly exposes herself to the whole company - including William Pennington, new publisher and son of the romance-despising CEO herself - she races to hide her manuscript in the secret turret room of the old Victorian office.

When she returns, she’s dismayed to discover that someone has not only been in her hidden nook but has written notes in the margins - quite critical ones. But when Claire’s own reaction turns out to be nearly identical to the scribbled remarks, and worse, Claire announces that Savannah has six weeks to resubmit before she retires, Savannah finds herself forced to seek the help of the shadowy editor after all.

As their notes back and forth start to fill up the pages, however, Savannah finds him not just becoming pivotal to her work but her life. There’s no doubt about it. She’s falling for her mystery editor. If she only knew who he was.]]> Melissa Ferguson Nikki 3 3.47 2022 Meet Me in the Margins
author: Melissa Ferguson
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/30
date added: 2023/05/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents]]> 53595348
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.]]> 456 Isabel Wilkerson 0593230264 Nikki 5 favorites 4.60 2020 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/06
date added: 2023/05/29
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> Alone With You in the Ether 61126612
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.

For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.

To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.

For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, comes an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.]]> 288 Olivie Blake 1250888166 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.69 2020 Alone With You in the Ether
author: Olivie Blake
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/28
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route]]> 58907545
In 2018, Sally Hayden received a message on Facebook: “Hi sister Sally, we need your help.� It was from an Eritrean refugee who had been held in a Libyan detention center for months, locked in one big hall with scant meals. Now, Tripoli was crumbling in a scrimmage between warring factions, and the refugees remained stuck, defenseless, with only one hope: contacting her.

With that begins Hayden’s staggering account of the migrant crisis across North Africa: from brutal, vindictive Libyan guards to unexpected acts of kindness; the frustration of visiting aid workers; fake marriages between detainees; the strain on real marriages; and the phenomenon of some refugees becoming oppressors after entering into Faustian bargains with their captors. With unprecedented contact with dozens of people currently inside Libyan detention centers, My Fourth Time, We Drowned will, for the first time, detail these stories.

In the future, people will regard this pivotal period with fascination and horror. The failure of NGOs and corruption within the United Nations represents a collective abdication of international standards that will echo throughout history. But most importantly, this book will highlight the resilience of humans: how refugees and migrants locked up for years fall in love, support each other through the hardest times and carry out small acts of resistance in order to survive in a system that wants them to be silent and disappear.]]> 512 Sally Hayden 0008445575 Nikki 0 to-read 4.49 2022 My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route
author: Sally Hayden
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dead Romantics 60418575 Listening Length: 10 hours and 24 minutes

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.]]> 11 Ashley Poston Nikki 3 3.91 2022 The Dead Romantics
author: Ashley Poston
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/22
date added: 2023/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> We Are Not Like Them 56898303 Told from alternating perspectives, this novel follows two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event.

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.

But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

We Are Not Like Them is both a powerful conversation starter and a celebration of the enduring power of friendship.]]> 336 Christine Pride 1982181036 Nikki 0 to-read, book-club 4.02 2021 We Are Not Like Them
author: Christine Pride
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read, book-club
review:

]]> The Last Thing He Told Me 54981009
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]> 307 Laura Dave 1501171348 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read, book-club 3.78 2021 The Last Thing He Told Me
author: Laura Dave
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read, to_read, book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read, book-club 3.89 2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
author: Mark Haddon
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read, to_read, book-club
review:

]]> Black Cake 57926137 We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right�? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.]]> 385 Charmaine Wilkerson Nikki 0 to-read, to_read, book-club 4.06 2022 Black Cake
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read, to_read, book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home]]> 42202117 Now a limited Netflix series starring Zoe Saldana!

This Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller is “a captivating story of love lost and found� (Kirkus Reviews) set in the lush Sicilian countryside, where one woman discovers the healing powers of food, family, and unexpected grace in her darkest hours.

It was love at first sight when actress Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of his marrying a black American woman. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forged on. They built a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships, and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopted at birth. Eventually, they reconciled with Saro’s family just as he faced a formidable cancer that would consume all their dreams.

From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro’s family, now she finds solace and nourishment—literally and spiritually—at her mother-in-law’s table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro’s romance—an incredible love story that leaps off the pages.

In Sicily, it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a death—in Tembi Locke’s case, it is both. “Locke’s raw and heartfelt memoir will uplift readers suffering from the loss of their own loved ones� (Publishers Weekly), but her story is also about love, finding a home, and chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. From Scratch is for anyone who has dared to reach for big love, fought for what mattered most, and those who needed a powerful reminder that life is...delicious.]]> 339 Tembi Locke 1501187651 Nikki 0 to-read, book-club 3.94 2019 From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
author: Tembi Locke
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read, book-club
review:

]]> No Two Persons 60196684 One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.�

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go�

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.]]> 314 Erica Bauermeister 1250284376 Nikki 0 to-read 4.02 2023 No Two Persons
author: Erica Bauermeister
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques]]> 517518 Rethink the Way You Think

In hindsight, every great idea seems obvious. But how can you be the person who comes up with those ideas?
In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you’ll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life. Michalko’s techniques show you how to look at the same information as everyone else and see something different.

With hundreds of hints, tricks, tips, tales, and puzzles, Thinkertoys will open your mind to a world of innovative solutions to everyday and not-so-everyday problems.]]> 416 Michael Michalko 1580087736 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.98 1991 Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques
author: Michael Michalko
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/19
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Listen 58676989
A child coming out to their parent. A family losing someone to terminal illness. A friend noticing the first signs of someone’s dementia. A careers advisor and a teenager with radically different perspectives.

There are moments when we must talk, listen and be there for one another. Why do we so often come away from those times feeling like we could have done more, or should have been braver in the face of discomfort? Why do we skirt the conversations that might matter most?

By bringing together stories with a lifetime’s experience working in medicine and the newest psychology, Mannix offers lessons for how we can better speak our mind and help when others need to.]]> 272 Kathryn Mannix 000843543X Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.39 2021 Listen
author: Kathryn Mannix
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/19
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> One True Loves 27189194
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid Nikki 3 4.03 2016 One True Loves
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/09
date added: 2023/05/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Solito 59900688 Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago—“one day, you’ll
take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.�

Javier Zamora’s adventure is a 3,000-mile journey from his small town in
El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border.
He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a
mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling
alone amid a group of strangers and a “coyote� hired to lead them to safety,
Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks.

At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents� arms,
snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He
cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns,
arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two
weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants
who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family.

A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and
intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey,
but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most
unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story
of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.]]> 384 Javier Zamora 0593498062 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.46 2022 Solito
author: Javier Zamora
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Yellowface 59357120
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 329 R.F. Kuang Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.84 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> The Institute 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.17 2019 The Institute
author: Stephen King
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> The Woman in the Window 40389527
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother and their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.]]> 455 A.J. Finn Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.94 2018 The Woman in the Window
author: A.J. Finn
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Rock Paper Scissors 56269064 Think you know the person you married? Think again�

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts � paper, cotton, pottery, tin � and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.]]> 294 Alice Feeney 1250266106 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.88 2021 Rock Paper Scissors
author: Alice Feeney
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> The Water Dancer 43982054 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here and here.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.]]> 416 Ta-Nehisi Coates Nikki 0 4.03 2019 The Water Dancer
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Long Division 16129174
Before leaving, City is given a strange book without an author called Long Division. He learns that one of the book’s main characters is also named City Coldson--but Long Division is set in 1985. This 1985 City, along with his friend and love-object, Shalaya Crump, discovers a way to travel into the future, and steals a laptop and cellphone from an orphaned teenage rapper called...Baize Shephard. They ultimately take these with them all the way back to 1964, to help another time-traveler they meet protect his family from the Klan.

City’s two stories ultimately converge in the mysterious work shed behind his grandmother’s, where he discovers the key to Baize’s disappearance.]]> 276 Kiese Laymon 1932841725 Nikki 0 3.78 2013 Long Division
author: Kiese Laymon
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> 72 Hour Hold 11900
Trina is eighteen and suffers from bi-polar disorder, making her paranoid, wild, and violent. Frightened by her own child, Keri searches for help, quickly learning that the mental health community can only offer her a seventy-two hour hold. After these three days Trina is off on her own again. Fed up with the bureaucracy and determined to save her daughter by any means necessary, Keri signs on for an illegal intervention known as The Program,a group of radicals who eschew the psychiatric system and model themselves after the Underground Railroad.In the upheaval that follows, she is forced to confront a past that refuses to stay buried, even as she battles to secure a future for her child.]]> 336 Bebe Moore Campbell 1400033616 Nikki 0 3.81 2005 72 Hour Hold
author: Bebe Moore Campbell
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Invisible Man 16981 Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.

As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying "battle royal" where black men are reduced to fighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers readers into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hilarious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, Invisible Man is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.]]> 581 Ralph Ellison Nikki 0 3.91 1952 Invisible Man
author: Ralph Ellison
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Slay 43723509 'We are different ages, genders and traditions ... but tonight we all SLAY'

Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers.

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.

No one knows Kiera is the game developer - not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.

With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she's created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

]]> 336 Brittney Morris 1534445420 Nikki 0 4.18 2019 Slay
author: Brittney Morris
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> The Color Purple 11486
Then her husband's lover, a flamboyant blues singer, barreled into her world and gave Celie the courage to ask for more - to laugh, to play, and finally - to love.]]> 295 Alice Walker Nikki 0 4.22 1982 The Color Purple
author: Alice Walker
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Narrative of Sojourner Truth]]> 349076 This remarkable narrative, first published in 1850, offers a rare glimpse into the little-documented world of Northern slavery. Truth recounts her life as a slave in rural New York, her separation from her family, her religious conversion, and her life as a traveling preacher during the 1840s. She also describes her work as a social reformer, counselor of former slaves, and sponsor of a black migration to the West.
A spellbinding orator and implacable prophet, Truth mesmerized audiences with her tales of life in bondage and with her moving renditions of Methodist hymns and her own songs. Frederick Douglass described her message as a "strange compound of wit and wisdom, of wild enthusiasm, and flint-like common sense." This inspiring account of a black woman's struggles for racial and sexual equality is essential reading for students of American history, as well as for those interested in the continuing quest for equality of opportunity.]]> 74 Sojourner Truth 048629899X Nikki 0 4.14 1850 The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
author: Sojourner Truth
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1850
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Early Departures 45734692 Opposite of Always,delivers another smart, funny, and powerful stand-alone YA contemporary novel, with a speculative twist in which Jamal’s best friend is brought back to life after a freak accident . . . but they only have a short time together before he will die again.

Jamal’s best friend, Q, doesn’t know he’s about to die . . . again.

He also doesn’t know that Jamal tried to save his life, rescuing him from drowning only to watch Q die later in the hospital. Even more complicated, Jamal and Q haven’t been best friends in two years—not since Jamal’s parents died in a car accident, leaving him and his sister to carry on without them. Grief swallowed Jamal whole, and he blamed Q for causing the accident.

But what if Jamal could have a second chance? An impossible chance that would grant him the opportunity to say goodbye to his best friend? A new health-care technology allows Q to be reanimated—brought back to life like the old Q again. But there’s a catch: Q will only reanimate for a short time before he dies . . . forever.

Jamal is determined to make things right with Q, but grief is hard to shake. And he can’t tell Q why he’s suddenly trying to be friends with him again. Because Q has no idea that he died, and Q’s mom is not about to let anyone ruin the miracle by telling him. How can Jamal fix his friendship with Q if he can’t tell him the truth?]]> 320 Justin A. Reynolds Nikki 0 3.87 2020 Early Departures
author: Justin A. Reynolds
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> The Crossover 18263725
Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.]]> 245 Kwame Alexander Nikki 0 4.21 2014 The Crossover
author: Kwame Alexander
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Solo 33004289 When the heart gets lost, let the music find you.

Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming—like many—that Blade will become just like his father.

In reality, the only thing Blade has in common with Rutherford is the music that lives inside them. But not even the songs that flow through Blade’s soul are enough when he’s faced with two unimaginable realities: the threat of losing Chapel forever, and the revelation of a long-held family secret, one that leaves him questioning everything he thought was true. All that remains is a letter and a ticket to Ghana—both of which could bring Blade the freedom and love he’s been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift.]]> 463 Kwame Alexander Nikki 0 3.94 2017 Solo
author: Kwame Alexander
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> The Souls of Black Folk 318742 Publication of The Souls of Black Folk was a dramatic event that helped to polarize black leaders into two groups: the more conservative followers of Washington and the more radical supporters of aggressive protest. Its influence cannot be overstated. It is essential reading for everyone interested in African-American history and the struggle for civil rights in America.]]> 288 W.E.B. Du Bois Nikki 0 4.30 1903 The Souls of Black Folk
author: W.E.B. Du Bois
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1903
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Buck: A Memoir 16169867 A rebellious boy’s journey through the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family—this is the riveting story of a generation told through one dazzlingly poetic new voice.

MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation’s dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone—his mother in a mental hospital, his father gone, his older brother locked up in a prison on the other side of the country—and forced to find his own way to survive physically, mentally, and spiritually, by any means necessary.

Buck is a powerful memoir of how a precocious kid educated himself through the most unconventional teachers—outlaws and eccentrics, rappers and mystic strangers, ghetto philosophers and strippers, and, eventually, an alternative school that transformed his life with a single blank sheet of paper. It’s a one-of-a-kind story about finding your purpose in life, and an inspiring tribute to the power of education, art, and love to heal and redeem us.]]> 272 M.K. Asante 0812993411 Nikki 0 4.02 2013 Buck: A Memoir
author: M.K. Asante
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> Sugar (Sugar Lacey, #1) 495369
Sugar brings a Southern African-American town vividly to life, with its flowering magnolia trees, lingering scents of jasmine and honeysuckle, and white picket fences that keep strangers out--but ignorance and superstition in. To read this novel is to take a journey through loss and suffering to a place of forgiveness, understanding, and grace. McFadden is the author of the novels Gathering of Waters, Glorious, and This Bitter Earth.]]> 256 Bernice L. McFadden 0452282209 Nikki 0 4.27 2000 Sugar (Sugar Lacey, #1)
author: Bernice L. McFadden
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> The Glass Hotel 45754981 From the award-winning author of Station Eleven, an exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events–a massive Ponzi scheme collapse and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea.

Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients� accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.

In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, the business of international shipping, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.]]> 307 Emily St. John Mandel 0525521143 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.66 2020 The Glass Hotel
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Heavy 29430746 In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse.

Kiese Laymon is a fearless writer. In his essays, personal stories combine with piercing intellect to reflect both on the state of American society and on his experiences with abuse, which conjure conflicted feelings of shame, joy, confusion and humiliation. Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been.

In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to his trek to New York as a young college professor, Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

A personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is defiant yet vulnerable, an insightful, often comical exploration of weight, identity, art, friendship, and family that begins with a confusing childhood—and continues through twenty-five years of haunting implosions and long reverberations.]]> 241 Kiese Laymon 1501125656 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.48 2018 Heavy
author: Kiese Laymon
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Miseducated: A Memoir 55653211 An inspiring memoir of one man's transformation through literature and debate from a delinquent, drug-dealing dropout to an award-winning Harvard educator -- all by the age of 27.
Brandon Fleming grew up in an abusive home, subject to the brutal rages of his stepfather, a cocaine-addicted Baptist preacher. Spirit broken, Fleming became a threat to everyone around him. He was shuffled through school, his passing grades a nod to his skill on the basketball court, not his presence in the classroom. He turned to the streets, a life of drug deals and violence, saved only by the dream of basketball stardom.

Fleming earned a chance to play for a Division I school. But when he suffered a career-ending injury during his first semester, he dropped out of college. He spent the next years toiling on an assembly line, until the depression that stalked him drove him to the edge. Miraculously, his life was spared.
Returning to college, Fleming was determined to reinvent himself as a scholar -- to replace illiteracy with mastery over language, to go from being ignored and unseen to commanding attention. He immersed himself in the work of Black thinkers, from the Harlem Renaissance to present day. Crucially, he found debate, which became the means by which he transformed his life, and the tool he would use to transform the lives of others -- teaching disadvantaged kids to be intrusive in places that are not inclusive, eventually at Harvard University, where he would make champions and history.

Through his personal narrative, readers witness Fleming's personal transformation, self education, and how he takes what he learns about words and power to help others like himself. Not a "10 steps to personal transformation" or "how to go from the 'hood to Harvard," Miseducated is an honest personal narrative about resilience, visibility, role models, and overcoming all expectations.]]> 272 Brandon P. Fleming 0306925133 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.51 2021 Miseducated: A Memoir
author: Brandon P. Fleming
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Tender Is the Flesh 49090884
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.� Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.]]> 209 Agustina Bazterrica 1982150920 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.75 2017 Tender Is the Flesh
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1)]]> 34043643
To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.]]> 560 Liv Constantine 0062688162 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.93 2017 The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1)
author: Liv Constantine
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold]]> 54698746
A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life.

A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family’s politics or be true to her heart.

In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places.

With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres.]]> 290 Bolu Babalola 006307849X Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.00 2020 Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold
author: Bolu Babalola
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope]]> 53008508 Growing up in the American South, Esau McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say. Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times. He advocates for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and, at times, reshaping Black concerns. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery. Ultimately McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others. Reading While Black moves the conversation forward.]]> 200 Esau McCaulley 083085486X Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.42 2020 Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
author: Esau McCaulley
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Astrophysics for People in a Hurry]]> 32191710
But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.]]> 223 Neil deGrasse Tyson 0393609391 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.07 2017 Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?]]> 16280 464 Beverly Daniel Tatum 0465083617 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.32 1997 Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
author: Beverly Daniel Tatum
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Passing 349929 Alternate Cover Edition for 9780142437278.

“I’ve often wondered why more coloured girls…never ‘passed� over. It’s such a frightfully easy thing to do. If one’s the type, all that’s needed is a little nerve.�

Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past. Clare’s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family’s happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others—and the secret fears they have buried within themselves.

First published in 1929, Passing is a remarkably candid exploration of shifting racial and sexual boundaries. As acclaimed Larsen biographer Thadious M. Davis writes in her introduction, this landmark novel by the Harlem Renaissance’s premier woman writer also depicts “the golden days of black cultural consciousness.�

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Thadious M. Davis]]> 122 Nella Larsen Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.93 1929 Passing
author: Nella Larsen
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1929
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> The Street 44087805
The Street tells the poignant, often heartbreaking story of Lutie Johnson, a young black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.

Lutie is confronted by racism, sexism, and classism on a daily basis in her pursuit of the American dream for herself and her son, Bub. Lutie fully subscribes to the belief that if she follows the adages of Benjamin Franklin by working hard and saving wisely, she will be able to achieve the dream of being financially independent.

The first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies, its haunting tale still resonates today.

“Petry is the writer we have been waiting for; hers are the stories we need to fully illuminate the questions of our moment, while also offering a page-turning good time. Ann Petry, the woman, had it all, and so does her insightful, prescient and unputdownable prose.”—Tayari Jones, New York Times Book Review]]> 378 Ann Petry 0358187540 Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.31 1946 The Street
author: Ann Petry
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1946
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness]]> 6792458
As the United States celebrates the nation's "triumph over race" with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status--much like their grandparents before them.

In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community--and all of us--to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.]]> 290 Michelle Alexander Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.52 2010 The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
author: Michelle Alexander
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Hood Feminism 52175374 288 Mikki Kendall 1526622718 Nikki 0 4.36 2020 Hood Feminism
author: Mikki Kendall
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, black-americans, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America]]> 25092262
What's wrong with black women? Not a damned thing!

The Sisters Are Alright exposes anti-black-woman propaganda and shows how real black women are pushing back against distorted cartoon versions of themselves.

When African women arrived on American shores, the three-headed hydra--servile Mammy, angry Sapphire, and lascivious Jezebel--followed close behind. In the '60s, the Matriarch, the willfully unmarried baby machine leeching off the state, joined them. These stereotypes persist to this day through newspaper headlines, Sunday sermons, social media memes, cable punditry, government policies, and hit song lyrics. Emancipation may have happened more than 150 years ago, but America still won't let a sister be free from this coven of caricatures.

Tamara Winfrey Harris delves into marriage, motherhood, health, sexuality, beauty, and more, taking sharp aim at pervasive stereotypes about black women. She counters warped prejudices with the straight-up truth about being a black woman in America. "We have facets like diamonds," she writes. "The trouble is the people who refuse to see us sparkling."]]> 160 Tamara Winfrey Harris Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.20 2015 The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America
author: Tamara Winfrey Harris
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> Nights of the Creaking Bed 12982228
Corruption, religious intolerance, gratuitous violence, the irresponsible attitudes of some men to their offspring and the importance of joy are some of the big themes that underlie this memorable collection.]]> 166 Toni Kan Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 3.74 2008 Nights of the Creaking Bed
author: Toni Kan
name: Nikki
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America]]> 49127394 Beloved national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams offers an empowering blueprint to ending voter suppression, reclaiming identity, and reshaping progressive politics.

Voter suppression has plagued America since its inception, and so has the issue of identity -- who is really American and what that means. When tied together, as they are in our modern politics, citizens are harmed in overt, subtle, and even personal ways. Stacey Abrams experienced the effects firsthand, running one of the most unconventional races in modern politics as the Democratic nominee for the governorship in Georgia and the first black woman major party nominee in American history. Abrams did not become governor, but she will not concede. And the reason she won’t is because democracy failed voters. However, fixing suppression isn’t enough unless we understand how it works and how identity plays a pivotal role. Suppression and identity altered the 2016 presidential election -- and will do the same in 2020. But progress can win, and here Abrams lays out how.


In Our Time Is Now, Abrams draws on extensive national research from her voter rights organization, Fair Fight Action, and her 2020 Census effort, Fair Count, as well as moving and personal anecdotes from her own life. Abrams weaves together the experiences of those who have fought for the vote and the right to be seen throughout our nation’s history, linking them with how law and policy deny real political power. So much hangs in the balance for the 2020 election, and the stakes could not be higher. Our Time Is Now will galvanize those seeking change. It will be a critical book by the expert on fair voting and access that will show us where we fall short, who America is now, and most importantly, empower us to become the democracy we’re meant to be.]]> 304 Stacey Abrams Nikki 0 to-read, to_read 4.34 2020 Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America
author: Stacey Abrams
name: Nikki
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: to-read, to_read
review:

]]>